Family of 'Trumpet Black' offering reward for stolen trumpet

NEW ORLEANS - A New Orleans man is offering $3,500 for return of the silver trumpet stolen during the funeral for his brother, a rising 28-year-old jazzman called "Trumpet Black."

Travis Hill died on tour in Japan, from a dental infection that reached his heart. He was a grandson of R&B singer-songwriter Jessie Hill and a cousin of Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews.

His brother Leroy Hill says the trumpet was the family's only physical token of "Trumpet Black."

Leroy Hill presented it to their mother during the funeral May 23.

He says relatives grabbed it from a stand, the jazz funeral paraded through Treme, and the trumpet has been missing since. Hill says he realized it was gone the next day, and filed a police report May 26.